SITE
INSPECTION
Site inspections have been made during the last two
years around Turkey. This is to inform you about the situation in Turkey
and what you will find when you came in Turkey.
Our first adventure began in August 1997 along the eclipse line through Turkey. The eclipse totality line crosses Turkey diagonally. We started from the coast of the Black Sea; at small town called CIDE, where the totality first reaches land after Romania. It has very beautiful beaches along the coast, but unfortunately cloudiness is always probable, because of the mountains parallel to the coast which the clouds coming from the north can not pass over . Our first decision was to omit the Black Sea coast as an observation area. After going beyond those mountains we reached KASTAMONU and AMASYA cities. We chose the town OSMANCIK that is on the totality line. Just near the village there is a very suitable area where the wrestling competitions are held,  enclosed
by a wire fence. Electricity and toilets are available. Meteorological
prospects are moderate for Osmancık, but TOKAT the neighboring city is
located just on the path of fronts, which come from the Black Sea.
Therefore cloudiness is changing very fast, so it is not a reliable place
for observations.
Going on our way we reached SIVAS where it was raining during August 11, 1997 ( during August 11, 1998 it was clear ). But in SIVAS seeing conditions are very good and there is no scattered light. We have chosen three places in and around SIVAS.  One
in the university campus, in and around the football field. The second
place is just on the line of totality EMREKOY
and HAFIK some 10 km beyond this point.
ELAZIG was the next stop on our way. The city surrounded by a dam lake. It is now on a peninsula. Just near the city there is a hill with an old town called HARPUT on it. This hill is almost 200 m higher than the city. This means that the the air pollution of the city is below the site, you will find a dust free, clean sky with no scattered light. This site is chosen for our experiments as well as for those of three Japanese groups: Dr. Hei and his team from Meisei University, Dr. Ichimoto and his team from Tokyo Observatory, and Dr. Ueno's team from Kyoto University. Also, we are in collaboration with Dr. V. Rusin and his team from Tatranska Lomnicka Observatory. The last site inspection was performed with him and with Dr. W. Livingston from NSO, Tucson. If you decide to observe the eclipse near the lake, you will find a place just near the water at the horse race track. 
This place is also well protected by a wire fence, and all
facilities will be available. All the observational parks we will organize
will have guardians 24 hours a day. One more place that will
be organized in ELAZIG is the garden of the sugar factory.
August is the off- season for this factory, so we will use this huge area
as an observational park.
DIYARBAKIR is located in a very large plain just near the 1 minute line of totality. You should drive some 55 km to the eastward to reach the village BASNIK which is just on the totality line. The meteorological prospects for DIYARBAKIR are excellent. We will establish one observational park near BASNIK now called BAGDERE . J. Anderson, co-author of NASA Reference Publication No. 1398, has chosen this place as a campsite. The city of BATMAN was our last stop for the expedition. We did not consider any other place further south. There is one helicopter port just near the city, in a half -private oil company campus, where there is a good security. We did those site inspections four times during the last two years. The last one was during August 1998. On 11th August we were in BATMAN. The weather was very bright as all along the eclipse line on that day. There is one more site, if you drive 30 km to the east, you will reach to a really exciting and very ancient place just on the line of totality.  HASANKEYF
is situated in the Mesopotamia Region, which is the site of one of the
oldest settlements in the world. The river Tigris passes through
it. Soon a dam will be built on the river Tigris and this historical place
will be covered by the dame lake forever. So this may be the last
chance to visit that area, and you may observe the totality among the ruins
of many cultures.
This text was given as an oral contribution at the "Solar Eclipse Workshop" held in Prague in September 8, 1998 and Third ASP-Euroconference held in Potsdam in September 22-27, 1998. |
